DETROIT — A team 18 games over .500 cannot hit rock bottom.
A team securely in the playoff picture cannot hit rock bottom.
A team with a division title within its grasp cannot hit rock bottom.
Somehow, though, the 2024 Orioles might have done just that Friday night against the Tigers. For months, they’ve been seemingly barreling toward a performance like Friday’s — almost on the receiving end of a perfect game and then one out away from being no-hit — and it finally happened.
So, what now? What’s next?
The Orioles (83-65) have been a .500 team since June 2. They’re closer to falling out of the top wild-card spot than winning the American League East. Only 14 games remain.
The 162-game baseball season is a slog. It’s designed to eliminate hot takes based one on game — no matter how good or bad. No one game is supposed to be more important than the others.
Friday’s loss might be the exception.
No matter how this season ends — with Baltimore unceremoniously staring out at another team celebrating or doing it themselves — the story of the 2024 Orioles cannot be told without what happened Friday. It’s up to them to determine whether it’s a catalyst for a postseason run or a sign of more ugly losses to come.
“We know what’s at stake,” shortstop Gunnar Henderson said Friday about 20 minutes after he spoiled the Tigers’ no-hit bid with a two-out triple in the ninth. “But, at the same time, you can’t sit there and beat yourself up over it, it’s not going to help you at all. So it’s just something we’re all learning, at least me, I’m learning how to go through it. A lot of the young guys have never been through this as well so we’re learning how to go through it.”
Through the season’s first three months, it appeared as if the Orioles were simply a 100-win team again. Regression was supposed to come, but it didn’t as they sprinted out to a 57-33 record through July 7.
Then the bullpen started to wear down. The injuries in the rotation caught up to them. The ailments reached the lineup, and the bats began slumping.
They’re 26-32 across their past 52 games. It’s hard to imagine a team that’s performed like that making a deep playoff run. But they still see hope — partially in players who could return from injury and also in the ones currently healthy — of breaking out of this funk.
While the offense this season has been a strength, it’s struggled in the second half and even more so in recent weeks. The Orioles hit .256 with a .776 OPS through July 7, numbers that ranked among the top of the major leagues. Since, they’ve hit .237 with a .711 OPS.
About a week ago, the Orioles were atop the AL East, clinging to a half-game lead over the Yankees. But they’ve lost six of their past eight — scoring only 15 runs combined — to dig themselves a three-game hole behind New York. It’s not an insurmountable deficit, but it’s not an easy one to climb out of.
Even after four Tigers pitchers carried a perfect game bid into the eighth and a no-hit effort two outs into the ninth, manager Brandon Hyde said he still believes his offense and club will snap out of its funk.
“I’ve seen flashes of us offensively,” he said. “There’s a lot of talent in that room, there’s a lot of guys that have put up good big league numbers and put up good minor league numbers. We have the ability to make some adjustments, we just have to collectively do it together. Hopefully we swing the bat better tonight.”
The injuries are a legitimate excuse, although it won’t change the standings or help the Orioles win close games in the postseason. Jordan Westburg was an All-Star and perhaps this team’s second best player, but he’s been absent for six weeks. Ramón Urías kept Baltimore’s offense afloat in August before his injury in late August. Ryan Mountcastle had an up-and-down season at the plate, but at the time of his injury in late August, he was leading the Orioles in doubles.
Add those ailments (and the many pitching injuries, too) on top of Adley Rutschman’s monthslong struggles, Ryan O’Hearn’s mini-slump and the inconsistencies from youngsters such as Jackson Holliday and Coby Mayo, it’s not easy to find a way out of the quicksand.
“We’ve had a tough second half offensively,” Hyde said. “We’ve had some guys that have really struggled for the first time in their careers. We’re young. There’s a lot of things. But we’ve got to do the best right now with what we’ve got with our roster.”
After Friday’s loss, Henderson did his best to offer a silver lining. The 23-year-old superstar knows the best teams — the ones who ultimately win championships — are “battle-tested.” Whether the battles these Orioles have fought help them in October remains to be seen, but there’s no arguing they’ve been tested.
“Last year we didn’t really get that not being swept the whole year,” he said. “This year we have to play a little more gritty and just a little more together. Obviously not how you want to be right now, but I feel like all it takes is one little spark and we’ll get hot again.”
If they do, Friday might have been just what they needed.
